Groundbreaking research led by Dr. Paola Dazzan, NARSAD Young Investigator Grantee, was recently featured on the BBC prime time show “Newsnight.” This new research can predict the severity of psychosis using sophisticated analyses of brain scans. This, in combination with Foundation-funded Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS) on schizophrenia and depression, also featured on the BBC show, is moving psychiatric research toward the development of reliable diagnostic tools and early intervention techniques for major mental illnesses such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. To date, treatments for brain and behavior disorders have been more or less effective at treating symptoms, but not the underlying causes of mental illness. This would be akin to treating chest pain for heart disease, without understanding how to improve the disease in the heart for the long term. With the advent of new technologies and interdisciplinary approaches that combine genetic studies with the capacities of new technologies with the development of new medications, mental illness will be able to be diagnosed, treated and potentially even prevented and cured as other diseases of the body already are.

Watch the BBC segment

Read more about Dr. Dazzan's groundbreaking work

Read about the GWAS studies on Schizophrenia and Bipolar disorder